Hot Topics:

Business

Proposed Denver Walmart underscores company's polarizing effect

By John MossmanThe Denver Post

Posted:
08/09/2012 12:01:00 AM MDT

Updated:
08/09/2012 05:19:33 AM MDT

Tamara Viehl, with 9-month-old son, Nathaniel, and 4-year-old daughter, Cora, worries that a Walmart store and an added traffic light near their Ash Street home would increase traffic significantly, posing a danger to her children and others in the area. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)

Utter the word Walmart in the east Denver neighborhoods surrounding the former University of Colorado Hospital site and you can expect to get an earful.

Paul Witter, a resident of the area, refers to Walmart as "a giant financial vacuum sucking money out of the local community" and "a real economic cancer in this country."

He has plenty of company.

When developer Jeff Fuqua announced his intention to have a Walmart serve as the anchor of a retail/residential project on the 28-acre site, he ignited a firestorm that has galvanized neighbors who say the store will destroy their neighborhood.

Opponents — who have packed public meetings and organized an aggressive anti-Walmart campaign both online and in the community — are quick to list their reasons for wanting the Bentonville, Ark.-based chain to stay away.

Neighbors frequently cite the criticism that Walmart pays low wages and has meager benefits and that its prices — particularly low because of the discounter's huge size and aggressive negotiation with suppliers — hurt small, local businesses. Critics also cite what they describe as the company's culture of greed.

Some readily talk of the "element" that they fear the discounter will attract to their solidly middle-class neighborhood of mostly 100-year-old brick homes and stately trees. They speak of increased crime, graffiti, noise and traffic congestion — especially since the proposed store would be open around the clock.

A handful of neighbors are defending the company, saying they believe the retailer is capable of creating a store that will fit their neighborhood, create jobs and eliminate the deserted hospital that now stands on the site.

Dick Alderson, owner of O'Brien's Tonsorial Parlor on East Eighth Avenue, says he is indifferent to a proposed Walmart store in the neighborhood. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)

Stunned by the overwhelmingly negative community reaction, Fuqua has noted that the project sailed through all the approval processes with the neighbors and the city — until the word Walmart was mentioned.

Fuqua says the $180 million project probably won't go forward without a Walmart, but some neighbors who have spoken out at the meetings made it clear that they prefer that the property remain vacant and weed-infested rather than see a Walmart — even an upscale, medium-sized structure with underground parking, as Fuqua describes it — in their midst.

They mention Target, Costco, King Soopers and Whole Foods as acceptable alternatives. But not a Walmart, even though research suggests there is little significant difference between Walmart and many of its competitors when it comes to employee relations and business practices.

"Walmart is polarizing," said Donna Sockell, director of the Center for Education on Social Responsibility at the University of Colorado's Leeds School of Business, "and what has happened at 9th and Colorado has happened in a significant number of communities throughout the country. Even our students struggle with how to feel about the company."

Sockell notes that while a Walmart provides jobs and tax revenue, it also has "the image of 'destroying' or, at least, changing the essence and character of local communities by putting local stores out of business.

"In spite of this debate, Walmart remains remarkably successful. Walmart is not for everyone, and the beauty of our political/economic system is that interest groups can resist, mobilize and speak out and, on some occasions, block the entry of the company."

The chain has recently pushed pushed beyond its rural and suburban roots — and its efforts to move into urban areas have met significant resistance. Other cities — including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Cleveland — have successfully fought Walmart.

Denis Moynihan, a Congress Park homeowner who started the website stopwalmartcolorado.com, cited a "litany of corporate malfeasance," including censorship of what magazines and CDs it carries, systemic bribery in Mexico, anti-union conduct and abuse of workers throughout the retail chain.

In an e-mail to Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and Councilwoman Jeanne Robb, Congress Park resident Steve Hoover wrote: "Despite claims that the store would be scaled-down and urban, a Walmart at this location is completely inconsistent with the quiet charm and character of the surrounding neighborhoods. I urge you to take a long-range view and insist on better retails to anchor this site."

James Felder said he fears a Walmart would "decrease property values in our neighborhoods."

Others are upset at what they call Fuqua's deceit and "betrayal."

"Throughout the process, the developer assured us that this would be an upscale development we could all be proud of," Kemper said. "When I heard the anchor store would be a Walmart, I was absolutely stunned."

Walmart spokeswoman Delia Garcia said the company is using the public debate as an opportunity to share the facts.

"We find that the more communities learn the facts rather than the myths, the more they appreciate Walmart as a neighbor and partner in the community," Garcia said. "That's not to say there aren't people who will continue to have strong opposing views. But we find that some of the louder voices in those debates don't necessarily represent the majority opinion."

Businesses benefit

Garcia defended the company's employment practices, saying Walmart has worked to give its employees better pay and benefits and has emphasized the promotion of women. She also said that when a Walmart becomes the anchor of a shopping center or development, existing businesses typically benefit from more customer traffic.

Walmart, ranked No. 2 on the Fortune 500 with $447 billion in annual revenue and $15.7 billion in profits, has 8,500 stores in 15 countries and more than 2 million employees.

Those numbers alone make it an inviting target for critics. In an online survey conducted by a neighborhood group, 91 percent say they oppose having a Walmart at the 9th and Colorado site.

But Walmart has its supporters.

Resident Cecil Kalthoff said a Walmart would provide much-needed jobs and that the project needs a high-volume, low-cost store to attract more shoppers. Others, noting that the site has been shuttered since 2007, say the overriding concern is developing it now, regardless of the anchor tenant.

"(Walmart) really does know how to do an upscale urban store," said Denver resident Alan Esler. "The downtown store in Nanning, China, has the look and feel of a Macy's with the Walmart prices. I preferred it to their typical big-box stores by far."

The overall project is to include quality restaurants and retail shops; a natural-foods grocery; pedestrian walkways, bicycle paths and open spaces; and preservation of the nurses dorm and quadrangle, to be used for public events such as concerts.

Still, the focus remains on one element: Walmart. Next on the agenda are public meetings on Sept. 6 and Oct. 4.

Missy Franklin, Jenny Simpson, Adeline Gray and three other Colorado women could be big players at the 2016 Rio OlympicsWhen people ask Missy Franklin for her thoughts about the Summer Olympics that will begin a year from Wednesday in Rio de Janeiro, she hangs a warning label on her answer.